Leaving Puerto Vallarta and Headed for La Paz

March - October, 2005
We have been at Paradise Village Marina from March - October, 2005 to sit
out hurricane season. Paradise Village is located inNuevo Vallarta which is north of Puerto Vallarta in Banderas Bay. It is right at the state line between Nayarit and Jalisco.

Cindy went to Denver for a few months to work (April - June) while Joe stayed on the boat and worked on other peoples' boats at the marina doing electrical and electronic repairs and upgrades. Joe came to Denver for the month of July to escape the heat and visit friends and family. We had a chance to visit with all of our dear friends in Denver which was great.

We bought a little Mexican car to make our lives easier - the Mexican buses make you fear for your life each time you ride them. It is interesting driving here (Joe did all of the driving). There are stop signs (ALTO in Spanish) which nobody (and I repeat nobody) stops for. To make a left hand turn you actually exit the road to the right, wait for the turn signal and then turn in front of everyone. It is very strange. You have to drive aggressively or else be run over.

The summer here was extremely hot and humid. We bought a portable air conditioner for the boat which helped a ton, but it also made you not want to leave the boat. There is a Yacht Club a short distance from where we were docked. It has a pool, hot tub, book exchange, bar, restaurant, etc. It is where everyone congregates to visit, play cards, use the computer or just hang out because it was air conditioned.

We took a road trip to the interior of Mexico for 2 weeks to Tequila, Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende. We took a tour of the Jose Cuervo factory to see how tequila is made. It was fascinating! They let you taste the aguave after it was baked but before it was ground up and the juice squeezed out for the fermentation step. After it is fermented and distilled we had another taste. This was like white lightning - 110 proof! They add water to it to make it 80 proof and then it is either bottled as silver tequila or put in barrels and aged to make Reposado or Anejo. Both of these turn a gold or darker color from the oak barrels. Joe likes the Anejo best. We bought a bottle of the "Reserva de la Familia" which is the very best that Cuervo makes. It has only been sold a for a few years. Before that it truly was reserved for the family members only.

Guanajuato was once one of the most productive silver mining areas of the world. It was founded in the 1500's by the Spanish and the town became very, very wealthy. It is an amazing town of underground tunnels that crisscross the old town since the original streets are extremely narrow and crooked. We met up with another gringo boater and his Mexican girlfriend who were there for a few months. We went to the Diego Rivera museum, Don Quixote museum, an incredible museum of real mummified dead people from a cemetery they dug up. Guanajuato is a college town so there is a lot of night life and kids around. We toured some beautiful churches that were like nothing we have every seen before. Unfortunately, Joe picked up something the last night we were there and carried it to San Miguel.

San Miguel de Allende is where Joe continued his first case of tourista sickness (salmonella poisoning probably) and spent most of the time in the hotel room close to the toilet. I went out and had dinner the first night by myself with a map in my hand down some dark deserted streets. But I found the pizza place I was looking for and was happy, happy, happy. The first morning after we arrived Joe said - I think I need to see a Dr. and I knew it was bad. So I took off to look for someone who spoke English to find out the name of a Dr. They suggested we call the free ambulance and head to the hospital. But instead of calling the ambulance we walked to the hospital and decided the line was too long so we went back to the hotel and found a Dr. that would see Joe asap (by cab). Needless to say - the Dr. put Joe on an IV in the clinic emergency room for 4 hours. He slowly recovered over the next few days. We happened to be there during the biggest festival of the year. Fireworks started at 4:00 a.m. and there was a huge parade that went by our hotel later that day with the most amazing costumes. It is a great city and a book called 'On Mexican Time' is a wonderful depiction of life in that town.

The drive back to Puerto Vallarta was uneventful except that we had a leak in the radiator and the car overheated out on the highway. Checking it out after we stopped, the radiator cap blew off into the weeds and we never found it. We pulled into a small, isolated car parts store a few kilometers down the road and got a new cap (hurray!) and filled the radiator with the dirtiest water you have ever seen, but it worked.

We have now left the marina and are anchored at the northern most entrance to Banderas Bay, at Punta de Mita. We spent three nights anchored off of the small village of La Cruz before that. La Cruz is a favorite of the cruisers. It is very small but has some interesting places to hang out, including what everyone calls "tacos on the street" which is a Mexican house that only opens on weekends and has cheap tacos that they serve on tables on the street. Mostly gringos go there and lots of them. La Cruz also has Philo's which is a bar/restaurant hangout owned by Philo (who else?) who used to cruise but now has a really friendly small place with live music.

Punta de Mita is just off the Four Seasons resort on the point. It is very exclusive and cruisers, or any non-guest, are NOT welcome. Lots of movie stars are rumored to hang out there. But lots of cruisers anchor in the little bay because it has great breezes, good holding (for the anchor) and there is surfing right in front. From here we plan to go to La Paz which is up and across the Sea of Cortez. We may or may not got to Mazatlan along the way.

More to follow soon. We will try to be better in keeping the website/blog up to date. Thanks for bearing with us. We are still having fun but miss our friends back in the states. Adios for now.

P.S. Many thanks to Dave on M/V Megabyte, and John on S/V Nakia for their help with the blog.